prisoner of marriage
by acromatic princess
Summary: After only two weeks of being Itachi’s wife, one thing became increasingly clear to me...I had married the wrong brother. /Sasusaku/
1. the beginning of the end

Title: prisoner of marriage

Author: acromatic princess

Chapter title: the beginning of the end

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto, or any songs or quotes I put in here.

Summary: After only two weeks of being Itachi's wife, one thing became increasingly clear to me...I had married the wrong brother.

Setting: Alternate universe-ish. They're still ninja and have Sound and Konoha and everything, just have different lives.

Notes: I honestly couldn't think of a better title, so if anyone has anything better, please tell me. And feel free to give any input or ideas on what should happen in this story, and any mistakes I made, feel free to point those out too. I won't be offended, I promise.

**Chapter 1**

_she didn't choose this role, but she'll play it and make it sincere_

_-'Time to Dance' by Panic! At The Disco_

I fought. Oh yeah, you better _believe_ that I fought. I—on multiple occasions—ran away, bit guards, dyed my hair blue—I even threw tantrums, screaming and beating fists on the floor and everything.

But did that stop them from making me marry him? Nope. They forced me—and I mean _forced_. I believe one time they even had to tie my hands together—into that wedding dress and put me before those gorgeous oak doors. There were guards at every possible escape route, and I considered myself a pretty good fighter, but I doubted even _I_ could take down 20 six foot, 200-pound men.

And so I gave up.

The first time I got a glimpse of my soon-to-be husband was that day. Right as they opened those doors. I checked him out the whole time I was walking down the aisle.

He was handsome, oh yeah, he was handsome. Long black hair tied back at the nape, and equally black eyes. Long eyelashes too, the kind that all girls wanted and pined for.

Yes, he was handsome, but I hated him. And it wasn't just because it was a forced marriage, there was something…something _evil_ about him. He hid it pretty well behind the charming smile he gave me, but I could see it in his eyes.

And I was afraid.

So I'd like to say that the reason I said 'I do' was because I suddenly saw the light and realized that I needed to sacrifice myself for my country—but I can't.

Because the real reason I said those dreaded two words wasn't any act of heroism or martyrdom, it was because I knew, I _knew_, he would kill me if I said no.

I'd like to say I said it because I wanted to save my country, but really, I wanted to save myself.

Some heroine I am.

--

His name was Itachi Uchiha.

He was 6-foot and 22 years old. Birthday on June 9. Truth be told, I hadn't looked at his files until the hour before the wedding. I hadn't wanted to accept the fact that this was the man I would be marrying.

He was powerful, too, I had learned. Itachi was the first son of the king of Sound—his country—and at 17, had become the head of the military.

This was no small feat.

We danced our first dance at the wedding reception, and I took that time to size him up. He had weapons hidden in 19 different places—a bit extreme, maybe, but not abnormal for a ninja—and great chakra levels. I could practically feel the power emanating off of him.

We didn't talk as we danced, though he was very polite. He didn't touch me in any unnecessary places and twirled and dipped me with absolute grace. On the outside, he was the perfect man, ninja, and husband.

So why did I fear him so much?

After that first dance, we didn't dance again. The whole rest of the night I kept getting claimed by more and more men. I didn't know any of them, but that made sense; we were in Sound, after all. And I was glad for any excuse to be away from him.

The wedding night is what scared me the most. I delayed leaving with Itachi for as long as I could, but I knew the time would have to come sooner or later. And when he held out his arm to me, I'm proud to say I didn't shrink back, but took it and walked with him out the big double doors of the church while people through rice at us.

It was silent in the limo ride, too. I awkwardly sat across from him until we pulled up to his house.

When I say house, though, I mean castle. A _huge_ castle. With turrets and gargoyles and everything. I allowed myself 5 seconds worth of staring before following Itachi into the castle.

I was worried the whole walk—which lasted for about _forever_—to his rooms. I bit my lip, chewed on my fingernails, and broke out in a cold sweat.

My worrying turned out to be in vain, though, because it turned out we had separate rooms.

Which meant I didn't have to sleep with him.

He showed me to a seemingly random door, bowed, said, "This is your room. My room is right next door," and went into the room to the right of mine. It was a considerable length down the hall, which made me very much relieved.

I went into my room and immediately fell onto the—my, have to remember _my_—bed, wedding dress and all. I didn't even bother to turn on the lights.

And after briefly congratulating myself on not having cried the whole night, I fell into a deep sleep.

The morning after this night was when my story really began.

--

I woke up to birds singing and light shining in through the window. It was a beautiful day, with a clear sky and white, fluffy clouds. The grass—or, as much of it as I could see from my window—was bright green and the flowers were vibrant colors.

No, seriously.

After a couple confused minutes of me wondering where I was, then remembering I was now _married_, I realized I was still in my wedding dress. That no maids had come to change me into night clothes gave me a strange sense of comfort. I liked that I had been left alone for the whole night.

Of course, since I _was_ still in my wedding dress, I hoped that they had brought in all of my clothes. Getting up and opening a door into my dresser, I was relieved to see that they had. I grabbed some of my everyday clothes—I hoped that they would still be appropriate now that I was a wife—took a shower, and headed out to see what was expected of me.

Since no one had come to wake me up, I figured no one really cared what I did. So I picked a random direction to walk and went for it.

It was probably an act of the gods that the first room I came to was the breakfast hall.

"Hey, you're the new princess, right?"

I turned to see a girl of about my age—maybe a little older—with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was smiling.

"Hello," the girl said, holding out a hand "I'm Ino."

"Hello," I said warily, shaking her offered hand, "I'm Sakura. And I'm not a princess."

Ino looked surprised, "You're not? Well, you are now." She shrugged, "Itachi's the eldest prince, and since you married him, you're now Sakura Uchiha, Sound's newest princess."

I shuddered. Ino noticed and raised her eyebrows, "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, it's just…" I shook my head, trying to shake off the unfamiliarity of everything. "I haven't gotten used to it. The whole, Sakura Uchiha and everything."

Ino nodded sympathetically, "I understand. Arranged marriages." She shook her head in disgust, "They ruin lives for people everywhere. I don't understand why people still let them happen."

I shrugged, "Well, I guess it had to be done. Konoha and Sound were in trouble if there wasn't an alliance marriage." I sighed, "I'm just glad to be serving my country."

"Bullshit." Ino said. I raised my eyebrows, "Excuse me?"

"I've heard about you," Ino said, smirking. "You fought tooth-and-nail to get out of this marriage. I heard you even destroyed a whole room in the Hokage Tower in Konoha." Surprisingly, Ino looked impressed.

I was surprised that she had heard about any of this, "Really? They actually told?" I rolled my eyes, "I would've thought that they would be too embarrassed that their princess was such a brat to say anything."

Ino's eyebrows furrowed in conclusion, "I thought you said that you weren't a princess."

I sighed, "I wasn't. I was the Hokage's daughter, which is basically the same thing, though." Which reminded me, I needed to _not_ write back to any of my father's letters. Stupid bastard who made me marry some random guy… "But whatever. Are we going to get something to eat?"

Ino raised her eyebrows, "It's like your whole demeanor changed now that you know I know you're not a good little princess." She grinned, "I'm glad. Maybe things will actually liven up around here." She started to walk towards the table filled with all different kinds of breakfast foods, "So how do you feel about Itachi?"

I was silent, contemplating whether or not to say what I really thought. It probably wasn't the best idea to diss the prince to one of his subjects… Ino noticed my discomfort—she seemed to be very intuitive—and offered, "I don't really like the guy, honestly."

This decided it for me. "He scares me," I said, loading my plate full of sausages and bacon and eggs, "I don't know what it is about him, but…I'm very afraid of him."

Ino nodded, loading her plate with enormous amounts of food. I looked at her, raising my eyebrows. "What? I like to eat," she said defensively. "And I agree with you. He may be handsome and all, but…there's something not right about him. He and his brother are so alike, and yet total opposites."

We started walking to one of the tables, and I looked at Ino confusedly, "He has a brother?"

Ino looked at me, and I could tell she was surprised. Well, why shouldn't she be? You would think I would know that my own _husband_ had a brother. "Yeah, a younger one. His name is Sasuke." I sat down at the end of the long table and she sat down across from me, "He's 17, so he's a little younger than you."

I popped a sausage into my mouth, "No, I'm 17 too." Briefly, I wondered if maybe I was supposed to have better manners—I had heard talking with your mouth full wasn't the most polite thing—but then I realized that I just didn't really care.

Ino tapped her fork to her mouth thoughtfully, "Hmm, well maybe you should've gotten married to _him_ instead." She tore off a piece of toast and started to chew it with her mouth open. I decided that my manners were just fine. "He certainly would've been a better choice."

I raised my eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

Ino put another piece of toast in her mouth, "Well, maybe it's just because I'm friends with him—well, sort of friends anyways—but Sasuke is certainly a lot less…scary. A lot of people think he is, but once you get to know him, you realize he's not." Her eyes lit up at something behind me, "Oh, there he is now. Hey, Sasuke! Come eat with us!" I turned around…and gasped.

Walking into the breakfast hall was probably the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. He had jet-black hair that stuck up in the back—on anyone else, it would've looked horrible, but on him, it _worked_—and dark eyes. He was wearing tight-fitting clothes and I could see that he had a nice, big…arm. I told myself I was only looking at his arms—which bulged with muscles—and his six-pack abs and not anything more…southerly.

I turned back to Ino, a little out of breath, "_That's_ Sasuke?"

Ino nodded, still looking at Sasuke, "Don't worry. Most girls _faint_ when they first see him. There's just _something_ about him…" Her gaze swiveled back to me, "Of course, _Itachi_ usually gets the same reaction."

My eyebrows were scrunched, "Really? I mean, I thought he was handsome, but I guess…he's just not my type."

Ino's eyebrows were raised, "Well, honey, he's your husband, so you're gonna have to get used to—hey Sasuke! What's up?"

Sasuke sat down next to me, and I struggled not to look at him. He was holding a plate of food, "I would've thought it would be obvious that I am eating."

Ino looked down at his breakfast, as if she had just realized it was there, "Oh…right. Got it. By the way, this is Sakura. Itachi's wife."

Sasuke's gaze slid to me, and now I couldn't help but look at him. The second glance was easier, I thought. I didn't even blush. "Hello. I'm…Sakura."

He nodded at me, "How do you do." His gaze locked with mine, and I could tell he was curious about me, but then he started to eat as if I wasn't even there.

I picked up my fork and started eating again, a little dazed. Ino grinned at me knowingly. And then, I swear, the floor started to shake.

"WHERE'S THE BASTARD? WHERE IS HE?"

Sasuke's calm demeanor dropped, and I could tell his whole body was tensing up. He sighed, and without turning around said, "What do you want, idiot?"

I felt a wind brush my side and an orange blur went by and sat next to Ino. It was a boy, and he seemed to be very angry.

"Sasuke…" He dragged the last syllable of his name out, "Why weren't you at our morning practice? I waited for an hour!"

Sasuke sipped his tea, though I could see that the veins in his hand were practically popping out, "I had more important things to do."

The blonde slammed his hands against the table, making all of the plates and food rise up, "YOU HAD MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO D—oh, who are you?" He was now looking at me.

I noticed that he had very bright, very blue eyes and was actually quite handsome, "I'm Sakura?"

He reached over the table, knocking over Sasuke's tea—Sasuke sighed loudly—and shook my hand, "I'm Naruto! It's nice to meet you!"

Ino, who seemed to have been observing everything with a sort of detached interest put in, "She's Itachi's wife."

Naruto stopped shaking my head, and looked at me with unreserved awe, "How _brave_."

I nodded hesitantly, "Right. So, um, _what_?"

Ino started eating again, "Don't worry, they do this all the time." She took a sip of her coffee, "They're best friends."

I looked back and forth between the two, "_Really._"

Naruto thumped his chest proudly, "Yep! Me and the bastard over here have been best friends for ages!" Sasuke didn't say anything, which I took to mean that he agreed.

I nodded, "I see." I didn't really understand how two such blatantly different people could be best friends, but I could see that somehow they _were_, so I decided just to accept it.

Naruto took a piece of bacon from Sasuke's plate, chewing messily, "So, Sakura. Tell us about yourself. Are you a ninja?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm a medic nin." Everyone looked surprised at this. Even Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

Naruto was nodding appreciatively, "A medic nin, huh? We don't have too many of those around here. I wouldn't have expected a princess to be a ninja, either." His eyes lit up, "You should practice with us at the training field some time!"

I smiled at him. Naruto may have been overly loud, but there was something about him that made me unable to not like him, "That would be awesome."

"Great!" he said, his mouth full of food he had taken from Sasuke's plate, "Everyone will be so happy to meet you!"

Ino stood up, picking up her empty plate, "Well, I'm done here, so I'm gonna go now." She looked at me, "How about you, Sakura? Do you need someone to show you around?"

I nodded, standing up, "Yeah, that would be really helpful."

Ino smiled, "Cool. Well, see you later, guys." We started to walk away, and I looked back to see the two boys were already in some heated debate. Well, Naruto was heatedly debating while Sasuke through in an insult every now and then. His few words seemed to be winning over Naruto's. I agreed with Ino, at first he did seem a bit intimidating, but…I thought that he was actually a pretty nice guy.

I turned back to Ino and she was watching me thoughtfully. "What?" I asked. She shook her head, "It's nothing, it's just…" She looked me in the eye, "Don't let it happen. It can't work, you know it can't."

I raised my eyebrows, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

She looked at me pityingly, "You will, though." Her face went back to its normal expression, "Okay, so over here is the weapons room…"

At that time, I really didn't know what she was talking about. At that time, I was still blissfully unaware of the thing—or rather, the person—that would tear my life apart…


	2. and then she makes some new friends

Chapter title: and then she makes some new friends

Notes: I've decided to try and make Sasuke as cliché as possible, you know, all angsty and smoldery and stuff. (Is that how you spell smoldery? Wait, is smoldery even a word? Yeah, probably not…) Emo=lovee.

--

**Chapter 2**

_surround yourself with people who respect and treat you well_

_-Claudia Black_

Two hours after we had met, Ino and I were best friends.

"So, what's your thing?" I asked her. She had just shown me the training grounds, and we were standing in the middle of one of the empty fields.

"What do you mean?" she said, pulling on her arm guards.

"What are you best at, in terms of fighting?"

"Ohh," she replied, "Mind transfer jutsu." She grinned at me, "I'm pretty good at it, if I do say so myself."

"Niceee."

"What's yours?" she asked, "I mean, besides your medical specialties, of course."

"Hmm," I said, thinking, "I guess it would have to be…my punch?"

"Your punch?" Ino looked incredulous, "Is it really strong or something?"

"You could say that."

At that moment, Sasuke and Naruto walked out onto the field, arguing about something or another. I didn't doubt that Sasuke was very powerful, and Naruto goofed off a lot, but…I decided that he was not to be underestimated.

"Hey, you guys!" Ino yelled, "We were just about to practice. Want to join?"

They walked over to where we were. Naruto grinned widely at me, while Sasuke looked at me with that curious look in his eyes, like he still wasn't quite sure how to think of me.

Naruto grinned, "Sure, I really want to see Sakura-chan fight!" He looked at me and grinned ever wider, "You want to spar, Sakura-chan?"

"Su—" I started.

"I'll spar with her."

We all turned to look at Sasuke. Ino raised an eyebrow and Naruto looked indignant. "But Sasuke!" he whined, "I was going to fight with her first!"

"Aren't you just getting over a major injury you got from that last mission you went on?" Sasuke asked him. "Yes, but—!" Naruto couldn't think of anything to say.

"Exactly." Sasuke said, looking bored, "So I'll spar with her. Besides," he looked at me now, and I could see a hint of challenge in his eyes, "I want to see how good my big brother's wife is."

I shrugged. I could see that he resented me a little bit, for some reason. Maybe he was mad that I stole his brother away from him? Somehow, I didn't think that that was the case…, "Alright. A fight's a fight."

We both started to put our gear on. From the sidelines, I could hear Naruto whisper to Ino, "This isn't good. The bastard's serious. Sakura could get hurt."

Ino looked at both of us calculatingly, "I don't know, Naruto. There's something about her…"

I finished putting on my shin guards, and though I had everything I needed on, I felt like I was missing something…hesitating for only a second, I reached into my pocket, pulled out my Konoha headband, and tied it around my head.

"Wow," Ino commented (did they not realize that I could hear everything they said?), "That girl's bold. Stupid, maybe, but bold."

Naruto looked confused, "Why did she put that headband on?"

Ino rolled her eyes, "Can't you see?" When Naruto made it clear that no, he could _not_ see she said, "She's basically saying that she won't fight for Sound and her allegiance lies with Konoha." She smiled, impressed, "She's fighting for Konoha, so if she wins, it's like she's saying Konoha's better than Sound."

"Ohh," Naruto said, nodding, "Well, there's no way she's going to win."

"We'll see about that!" I yelled from the field. Both of them looked sheepish, as they should have. Thinking they could gossip about me when I was right there…

I turned to Sasuke, "You ready?"

He smirked, "Of course."

I sighed. Way too cocky, that was the problem with men. Especially with pretty men. Ino yelled, "Okay, start!"

We started. I'm not going to describe the full battle, but basically, it was intense. And over in roughly five minutes. The end results are really all that matter, though.

I won.

He had been pretty surprised when I punched the ground and a crater appeared. He had been even _more_ surprised when I punched _him_ and he flew back 50 feet into a tree.

I'm not going to get all arrogant and say it was because I had more skill, because I don't. Honestly, he was probably at a higher level than me.

He had just underestimated, and that had cost him.

Boy, was I feeling pretty proud that night.

--

It was 3 hours later, and Naruto was still talking about that fight.

"You were like wham! And the ground was like boom! And Sasuke was all ahh, help me, and—"

I rolled my eyes, "He just underestimated me, that's all."

We sat down at a table in the dining hall and started to eat dinner, "Well, you still beat him, which is pretty fucking great."

I took a bite of my meat, "Where is Sasuke, anyways?"

"Probably too embarrassed to come out of his room," Ino said, sitting down, "Sasuke's a baby like that."

"You said it!" said Naruto, taking a big gulp of ramen.

I stared at the bowl of ramen. Where had it even come from? Ramen wasn't even one of the choices…"Where did you get the ramen?"

Naruto finished the bowl and started on a second, "The chef always keeps some ramen packages for me." He patted his pocket with a wide grin, "And if they ever run out, I always have some extra in my pocket."

I raised my eyebrows, "You like ramen that much?"

Naruto looked surprised, "Don't you? It's the best thing in the world!"

I looked at Ino; she shook her head, "Don't worry about it. Naruto has weird obsessions." She looked at his orange outfit distastefully, "Like the color orange. _So_ last season."

"Shut up, Ino!"

Sasuke came in then, sitting down at the seat across from me, next to Ino. He didn't look at any of us, and started to eat in silence.

Naruto looked at him in disgust, "Seriously, teme? Are you really sulking just because a girl beat you?" Naruto snickered, "Though, I mean, it _is_ pretty mortifying…"

"I'm impressed, Naruto. I would have thought a word like 'mortifying' to be out of your vocabulary." Sasuke smirked, "You're just learning new things every day, aren't you?"

Naruto stood up, slamming his fist against the table, "Shut up, Sasuke! At least I didn't get beat by a girl!"

"At least I wasn't too _weak_ to fight a girl. Oh sorry, that's right, you're _injured_."

Naruto had a murderous look in his eye and looked about ready to lunge at Sasuke, when a hand appeared on his arm.

"Naruto-kun."

A girl, about my age, had appeared next to Naruto. She had long, dark hair, pale lavender eyes, and lavender clothes on. Naruto smiled at her, "Oh hey, Hinata." She blushed slightly and sat down.

I looked back and forth between the two of them, wondering if something was going on. Maybe they were dating? Naruto's anger had dissipated as soon as Hinata arrived, which obviously meant something. Naruto pointed to me, "By the way, Hinata, this is Sakura." He grinned, "She's Sasuke's _onii-chan's_ wife." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Hinata looked at me and gave a small, respectful bow, "How do you do, Uchiha-san?"

Horrified, I said, "Please call me Sakura." I smiled, "So are you two dating?" I gestured to Hinata and Naruto.

Hinata's face turned a shade of red I didn't think was possible, while Naruto just laughed, "Me and Hinata? No way! We're just friends!"

I looked at Hinata quickly, wondering if she would be hurt by the "No way!" comment. Because judging by her blush, _she_ didn't want to be 'just friends'. But she just started eating her food and didn't say anything.

Ino waved her fork at me to get my attention, "So, Sakura, what's your flaw?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Ino said, chewing her salad, "You just seem too perfect. You have a good personality, unlike most of the broads around here," she glared at a girl at another table, "You fight well, and you aren't cocky about it, unlike some _other_ people around here," she looked at Sasuke meaningfully. He glared at her, "And on top of that, you're fucking gorgeous!" She shrugged, "I just don't understand how someone so perfect can exist."

I laughed out loud. All of them looked at me strangely. I said, still laughing, "What? You really think I'm perfect?"

With the exception of Sasuke, who just went back to eating, they all nodded. Naruto said, "I mean, Sakura-chan, that's the way it seems to us. Too cocky or not, you still beat _Sasuke_, who's one of the best we've got." He puffed out his chest arrogantly, "Of course, _I'm_ THE best, but still. Sasuke's strong."

Hinata smiled shyly, saying, "I've only heard rumors, but that's the way it seems to me."

I looked at all of their faces, realizing that they _were_ serious. I sighed, knowing I was going to have to tell them. I hadn't been going to say anything to anyone, but I supposed I had to do it. "Okay, guys, the truth is…I have this one horrible, fatal flaw."

"I…" I took a deep breath. They were all looking at me expectantly. Even Sasuke looked a little bit curious, "I…"

I gulped, "I'm completely tone-deaf."

Ino gasped. The rest of them looked at her weirdly. She blushed, "I'm sorry, I was just expecting something way more dramatic, so I prepared myself, and…" She turned to me, gesturing wildly, "That's it? That's your big secret? You're _tone-deaf_?"

"Well…yeah." I looked at all of them, confused, "Isn't that a really bad thing? I mean, this is _Sound_, right?"

There was silence. Then, Ino and Naruto burst out laughing, Hinata giggled, and Sasuke smirked. I blushed and said defensively, "What?! I mean, it's a perfectly normal thing to think! In a country called Sound, it would make sense to think that it was a big thing for everyone to sing or be musical!"

Ino wiped tears of laughter from her eyes, "Oh god, hon, wow. Think about it. You're from Leaf, but that doesn't mean all of the people there are _leaves_, right?"

I frowned at Naruto, who was still laughing so hard he was banging his fist on the table, "C'mon, it's not _that_ funny." I put my head in my hands embarrassedly, "Ugh, I guess I never thought about it that way." I looked up, "Well, then why _are_ you called Sound then?"

Hinata smiled, "Most of the people here use fighting techniques that deal with sound, that's all." Naruto—he had finally stopped laughing—smirked, "Yeah, did you think we had weekly get-togethers where everyone in Sound sat in a circle and sang Kumbaya?" He shook his head, "You've been seriously misinformed."

I sighed, "I wasn't really informed about anything, actually. It was sort of just a 'You're marrying this guy, his name is Itachi, now go walk down the aisle' kind of thing. I didn't really know anything about it at all."

It was silent for a moment, and then Ino reached across the table covered my hand with her own, "Well, now you know us, so everything's okay." She smiled, "We're your friends; we'll take care of you!"

Naruto grinned and nodded encouragingly and Hinata smiled. I risked a quick glance at Sasuke; he was looking at me with…was that a hint of a smile on his face? I decided to believe so.

Maybe Sound wasn't going to be so bad after all.

--

It's true what the saying says, "Thou who reviews shallt see the story updated sooner."…Okay, so I lied, that's not a real saying (bet you were fooled, right?) but it really is true. So review. =)


	3. sometimes things blow up

Chapter title: sometimes things blow up

Notes: …I'm not going to lie, I'm not completely sure where this story is going. I've got a rough idea of it in my head, but I'm too stupid to make an outline or anything like that. But here you go, hope you like it!

**Chapter 3**

_Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it._

_-Michael Jordan_

It was only when I woke up the next morning that I realized I hadn't seen my husband at all the previous day.

Was this normal? It couldn't be…

I sat down next to Ino at breakfast, "Is it normal for women not to see their husbands here?"

Ino looked at me, "Well, good morning to you too." She took a hair tie off of her arm and started to put her hair in a ponytail, "This is Shikamaru, by the way." She nodded at a brown-haired boy sitting across from us.

Shikamaru nodded in greeting. I smiled back at him, then turned back to Ino, "Anyways, is it normal? I don't care if we barely know each other, we're still married!"

Ino sighed. Shikamaru said, "Itachi's just…different. He wouldn't be what you would call 'social'. It doesn't surprise me that you haven't seen him, he's always going on trips for business."

I narrowed my eyebrows, "What kind of business is he doing?"

Ino shrugged, "Politics, treaties, who knows? I doubt it's anything you should be worried about. He's a prince, he has stuff to do."

I sighed and took a sip of my tea, "Well, you would think he would at least _tell_ me he was leaving."

Ino started to dig into the large stack of pancakes she had on her plate, "Maybe he wanted to give you some space, considering you don't even know each other."

I groaned, putting my head on the table, "Two nights ago—our wedding night—that was all I wanted. But now, I want to at least get to _know_ my husband." I lifted my head up, "Besides, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do around here! I'm going to get so bored."

As soon as I said that, a crash came from outside the hall.

We all looked up sharply. "Oh, shit," Ino said, jumping up, "This isn't good." She ran to the entrance of the room, and Shikamaru and I followed her.

In the hallway was chaos.

There were injured people lying on the ground and there were people running back and forth from a big hole in the wall.

My eyes widened. A big hole in the wall? What the hell happened?

Ino stopped a medic running towards the accident, "What's going on here?"

"Somehow, a bomb got in here. We have no idea who put it here!" He continued running.

I could see that Shikamaru was surveying the scene. "Does this happen very often?" I asked him. Maybe in Sound, things were different. Maybe bombs going off was a normal occurrence here? But Shikamaru shook his head. "It's been years since a bomb has gotten into the palace," he said, still looking at the wreckage. "We have very good security here, so a bomb getting in could mean only one thing."

"What does it mean?" I asked him, moving sideways as a man ran past me.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyebrows. "It means this was an inside job."

I looked back at the hole in the wall, raising my eyebrows. Inside jobs were bad, because it meant there were people that you couldn't trust. And in crises like this, not being able to trust people was about the worst thing possible.

Ino was shaking her head in disgust. "I wonder who the bastard who did this is," she said.

"Or bastards," Shikamaru pointed out.

"Or bastards," she agreed. She looked at a man laying on the ground, bleeding. "This is horrible. We don't have enough medical ninjas for something like—hey wait. Sakura—" She turned to me. I raised my eyebrows in question. "Didn't you say that you're a medical ninja?"

I looked at her blankly for a moment, then mentally slapped myself in the head. "You're right! God, I can't believe I forgot." Jesus, this place is messing me up.

I quickly got to work with fixing people up, and as soon as I started healing, I remembered how much I loved it. The feeling you get when you are saving a person's life is unlike any other, and I had forgotten just how good it made me feel.

About halfway through healing the injured people, Ino came up to me, looking impressed. "Wow, Sakura. You're a good medic ninja, aren't you?" she said, looking at all the people I had healed. "You're faster than almost every other medical ninja we have here at sound."

I wiped the sweat off my brow. "I trained under Tsunade, you see," I said, sitting back on my knees. "She's probably the best medical ninja out there."

Ino raised her eyebrows, "_The_ Tsunade? Wow." She let out a low whistle, "That's kind of intense."

I grinned at her. "I also got my punch from her, too. My goal is to beat her one day, but I guess that's impossible now," I said, looking down at my wedding ring. "Princesses probably aren't supposed to do stuff like that, huh?"

Ino shrugged, sitting down next to me. "Probably not," she said, "But maybe you can change history!" She pulled out medical tape from a nearby kit and started wrapping an injured man's leg.

I started working on his arm, "Yeah, maybe I'll become a hero or something. You can be my sidekick."

Ino rolled her eyes, still wrapping the man's leg, "How about your co-hero? We'll be the legendary badass girls who saved the world."

"Sounds like a plan," I said, smiling. We worked like that for a few hours, until there were only a couple of people that still needed to be healed. We moved the last of them to the hospital rooms and worked on them there. Ino looked at the hospital beds filled with people and frowned. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

"There's something weird about this," she said, looking at me. I could see that there was a lot of confusion in her eyes. "There were a lot of people hurt, but how come nobody died?"

I hadn't even thought of that, but I realized it was true. With a big explosion like that, there should have been at least some fatalities, but there were none. So this made the perpetrator all the more strange. Who could have done this?

--

I was walking down the hall to my room when I saw Sasuke waiting at the door. This was strange; why would he want to talk to me? When I got close to him I said, "Hey Sasuke, what's up?" and when he looked up I saw that he looked angry. Really angry. I stopped in my tracks, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" he hissed, "What do you think is wrong?" I swear that his eyes flashed red for a second. I took a step back; he was scaring me just as much as Itachi.

"Um, I'm not sure?" I said, hoping that my voice didn't sound afraid. I tried to stand up taller and look strong, but I knew there wasn't much use. Sasuke was just as tall as his brother and probably almost as strong, and his anger made him even stronger.

"The bomb, Sakura," he said, taking a step forward. It was hard not to take another step back, but I stood my ground. "The bomb was a Konoha bomb."

I was confused, "What? How would a Konoha bomb get in here?" And then I realized what he was trying to say. "What?!" I practically shrieked. "You think _I_ planted the bomb in here?!"

Sasuke didn't say anything, and I knew that was exactly what he was thinking. And suddenly _I_ was angry.

"Listen here, _Uchiha_," I spat at him. "I just used up practically all my chakra saving _your_ people." I glared at him, "Why would I blow up your people and then save them?"

He glared back at me. "I don't know, Sakura. How about _you_ tell _me_?" he said, his hands clenching into fists. "I know that you're a spy for Konoha, and I'm not going to let you people destroy Sound. I'll find proof that it was you, and then I'll stop you." He stalked past me as I stood there in angry shock, but paused for a second a few feet away from me.

"And technically," he said, his voice still angry. "They're _your_ people now, too." He continued to walk down the hall, and I listened to his footsteps until they were gone. I don't know for how much longer I stood there, but I could only think one thing.

Who the hell had framed me?

--

Sorry this chapter was shorter than the other ones, I'll make the next one longer...probably...

But yes, review, please!


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